Meet newly-weds Steve and Beth Parnell. This is probably the coolest themed wedding I have ever seen and blogged about.

Beth is a music PR and runs her own agency, Bandwagon Press. She is also a food and travel blogger and runs blog as well as writing for Huffington Post UK….phew. Beth loves the 1960s, collecting retro homeware and furniture, cooking and shopping! Steve is a graphic designer and also works in the music industry. Steve also loves the 1960s, is an avid supporter of Everton Football Club, collects retro cocktail items for his home boat bar and enjoys listening to vinyl on his retro record player. Looking at the images from their big day, you can see it totally reflects the couple’s style and personalities.

 

 

 

The Venue

Victoria Baths is, I believe, one of Manchester’s hidden little wedding gems. Well known for the quirky cool kats, its an awesome venue steeped in history. This snippet is taken from their website www.victoriabaths.org.uk  where you can read more of their story.

“When it opened in 1906, Victoria Baths on Hathersage Road, Manchester, was described as “the most splendid municipal bathing institution in the country” and “a water palace of which every citizen of Manchester can be proud.”  Not only did the building provide spacious and extensive facilities for swimming, bathing and leisure, it was built of the highest quality materials with many period decorative features:- stained glass, terracotta, tiles and mosaic floors.”

The address is : Hathersage Road,Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester M13 0FE contact 

The Theme

“We both love the 1960s and we always knew that would be a big theme in our day. From our outfits to the bridesmaids/ushers outfits, from the venue to the vases (limited edition Cambell Soup tins, Unigate milk bottles and various vintage gold pattered glass vases) and from the Babycham style champagne glasses and matching Babycham favours (we had our own ale ‘Parnale’ for the men) to the table names named after Northern Soul clubs. We also had a vintage Morris Minor to take us to the venue, vintage styled flowers from great florist Luisa Pecchio and a 1960s themed gourmet buffet for our wedding breakfast from renowned local chef Robert Owen Brown.”

“Steve is a graphic designer and designed all of our artwork including our record invites, which we used original 1960s 7” records for, and 12” record placemats, with each guests face and name on. Steve also made posters, which we hung around the venue, featuring old pictures of our favourite bands and love lyrics from some of their songs.”

“It was a real labour of love and we had lots of help from friends and family who have various clever skills! We wanted our wedding day to be unique and really represent the two of us and all of ours guests said exactly that and loved all the little detail we spent so many enjoyable hours planning. It really was an incredible day!”

The Dress

A Spring/Summer 2014 LouLou Bridal 1960s style tea length wedding dress from Love Bridal. Accessorised with Vivienne Westwood “Melissa” gold bow shoes, a vintage pearl handbag, a bespoke bow hair clip made from the same material as the wedding dress, a pearl and gold bracelet from Steve’s parents and vintage gold Chanel earrings (from Steve on our wedding morning). Beth also had a fantastic beehive style hair do which really finished off the perfect 1960s bridal look! Created by Percy & Reed hairstylists and make up artist

 

The Suit

A mod mohair grey suit from . Loake loafers, an Adam of London mod knitted tie, a Liberty of London Lord Paisley patterned pocket square and a vintage tie pin.

The Bridesmaids

The bridesmaids wore floral and heart print dresses with big underskirts and matching hair bows and Vivienne Westwood Melissa heart shoes.

 

Best Moments

Beth: “Walking down the aisle to see all of my friends and family and Steve waiting for me at the bottom. I thought I’d be really nervous but I was just happy and couldn’t wait to be with Steve and marry him. It was also amazing to have my lovely Dad by my side as I walked down the aisle and my 5 closest friends as my bridesmaids with me.”

 

Steve: “I was so nervous waiting for Beth to arrive but as soon as I saw her I couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked and couldn’t wait to marry her! I was also blown away to arrive at Victoria Baths and see a line of incredible vintage scooters from Manchester Lyons, a local scooter club, lined up outside the entrance waiting for me. I had no idea they would be there as Beth had organised it all as a surprise and it fitted with our theme perfectly. It’s made me want to get a scooter again though!”

 

The Photographer

“My friend and amazing photographer Tom Oxley. He is a music photographer but did our wedding for me as a favour and it was really special to have him photographing us.”

This is probably my most favourite image of Beth looking spectacular in this Vogue-esq shot, it takes my breath away….I love it.

The Cake

“We had a 4-tier mod inspired cake, heart shaped cake pops and cookies with artwork from our wedding invite all made by my very clever sister Kate who runs Little Button Bakery! We had three different flavours – lime and coconut, lemon and rose buttercream and chocolate.”

The Gossip

“I am a very punctual person but I was 20 minutes late for the ceremony – which stressed me out and worried Steve! – as I couldn’t get my underskirt to sit correctly under my dress! My sister and chief bridesmaid managed to save the day and we got there in the end!”

The Decor

 

The First Dance

The Movie